October 6, 2013

Kia Ora family and friends!!!!

This week has been fairly good! We were able to do a whole bunch of service it seemed. We just got a lawn mower and a weed eater for ourselves and the sisters flat. Also we got it so we could do service if there was anyone who needed something done but didn't have a lawn mower. So we got it and mowed our own lawn. Which was full of rocks and was really not flat. It was also about as long as the lawn was that I showed you the pictures of last week, about mid-calf! But a lot smaller. We didn't bag it up either because it was just way too much grass. It would have been like 20 bags of grass. It was also a super small bag so that might be part of it. Then we went up to our bishop's house to help him out with his lawn because he does so much for us as missionaries! He then fed us a super huge dinner off the BBQ. Pork, steak, and sausages, garlic bread, salad, and some amazing bread and butter pudding (dessert). Then on saturday, we were riding our bikes to stop at our flat real quick and we stopped to talk to a lady on her porch. We asked her if we could do anything for her and she said yes! People almost ALWAYS say they are good. So we changed, and headed back over. She just wanted her little gardens weeded and turned over. She had cancer twice and was pretty weak, unable to do it all by herself so it was good to help. She had lots of questions about the Church and Missionaries that we were able to answer.

Other than service though, we haven't been able to do much. We made a trip down to Upper Hutt to have district meeting where the zone leaders are. We also had interviews with President Kezerian. That was a really cool thing to be able to talk about what was going on and meet with him for a couple minutes. He actually knew a lot about Sacramento and used to go there all the time when  he was still working for UPS I think it was. He knew the Folsom Dam and Folsom Prison! So that was good to talk about home a little bit. To get to this place, we have to go over the Rimatuka mountain range. There are some pretty steep and narrow roads up there so it is always exciting haha very beautiful though!

When we had dinner with the Bishop, he kinda filled us in on what was going on in the States. He told us that Oracle won the America's cup 9-8 after being down 1-8. I think all of New Zealand is a little sad about that. He told us a little about what was going on politically. He was pretty shocked that the US would allow something like this to happen but I wasn't too surprised. I guess he said that the government is "losing" about $300 million a day when it is shut down. That is heaps if it is an accurate figure. He also said something about a woman being shot and killed because she tried to drive her car though the fences at the white house. That is kinda crazy. Hopefully things get worked out! Bishop was asking questions about what party the majority of the members of the Church align themselves with. We are kinda instructed not to talk to much about politics but I guess this was ok haha.

We won't get to watch conference until this weekend. They have to wait for it to be broadcasted because they can't get it live here. It is kinda a bummer that we have to wait but it is something I am certainly looking forward too! We printed out 500 invitations to hand out to people. It was probably a little optimistic but we are going to do our best to hand them all out! We want as many people as possible to show up to the Chapel to watch conference on our new bis projector screen! We were planning on having a couple baptisms this weekend but I think they are all going to be postponed because there won't be a sacrament meeting. And because the investigators aren't quite ready yet.

Things have been going alright. Our key indicators this week have been fairly low because we have been busy doing random things. We haven't had too many lessons or anything this week. We are going to try really hard to have an awesome week this week! We had a lesson with the xxxxxxxx family last week. It went pretty well. They are really pretty interested on learning more. We taught them about the restoration and invited them to baptism. They said it was something they would think and talk about to see if they are interested in pursuing.  We left them with a restoration DVD (20 min) and a Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration (60 min) to watch. We are going to follow up soon on if they have. We invited them to a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson and the 15 year old son, Jonas prayed. Both parents thought it was really neat to hear their son pray, even though they haven't ever really been religious. They have really good values though! We set our next lesson with them on the 21st of October. It is really far away so we are kinda sad but we just get to do more pop-in visits!

We are going on exchanges this week but I am not too sure where I am going. I could be staying here or going down to Carterton to go with the other senior companion in the district. It is about 10-15 km away and smaller than Masterton. I am excited to learn from another missionary. Elder Christensen and I are hoping that we are staying together for another transfer. I am thinking that we will because I still have a transfer of training left.

The weather here is starting to get really hot. Well really hot for a suit. We went door knocking yesterday and pretty much everyone told us we were crazy to be wearing a suit. It was only like 25 degrees though. I guess it can get up to like 30-35. Oh boy. But it does cool down at night and is really really nice. And there are heaps of stars you can see because there aren't too many lights in town.

The other day we had a excommunicated member give us a call. I had met with him once before and the other elders have met him before too. He is a really nice guy but also will tease you on like everything you say. He was a seminary teacher and a bishop before so has a lot of knowledge of the church. He just made some serious mistakes. Anyway he called us and we were really confused because he doesn't really ever do that. So we called him back and he asked if we were coming over so we said sure. When we got there he asked if we were wondering why he called us and we were very curious. He then walked into the kitchen and grabbed about a dozen little meat pies to give us from his work as a chef at a golf course here. He said he had heated them once and his rule is that he doesn't heat things twice. We gladly took them off his hands haha they are really good! So that was awesome to get those from him!

Well I think that is about it. I have started driving though, even though my license has the wrong date. It is kinda weird being on the wrong side haha Hope things are going well back home! I am enjoying the pictures you are sending!

Love you lots!!

Elder Burnham